Gunning water upgrade underway

The
upgrade of Gunning’s water supply is flowing along, with a construction
contract set to be awarded in February.

Residents
had to boil water to drink earlier this year after floods caused the supply to
turn a tainted, dirty brown colour.

“There
was a lot of concern with the water quality in Gunning. The community just felt
it wasn’t good enough,” Luke Moloney from Upper Lachlan Shire Council said.

He
said council and the community lobbied to receive $9.7 million in funding to
put in a treatment plant, reservoir and pumping station in Gunning and a new
water supply for Dalton.

Although
Gunning’s treatment plant improvements are underway, the changes for Dalton are
still up in the air.

When
the funding was announced, Dalton was set to get a reverse osmosis treatment
plant, generally used to purify seawater.

Mr
Moloney said the problem with reverse osmosis was that the water security issue
wouldn’t be addressed.

And he
said reverse osmosis was expensive.

“The
options we’re talking about are a big capital cost for such a small town like
Dalton.”

Council
is now considering whether to put in a treatment plant or a 12 kilometre
pipeline from Gunning’s upgraded supply.

“The
preferred option being that which provides the least life cycle cost, provides
the highest level of service and is affordable to the Dalton community,” Upper
Lachlan’s general manager John Bell said in a statement.

Some
residents are worried the upgrade is linked to the potential construction of a
gas-fired power plant near the village.

However,
council said the upgrade is necessary to provide a reliable supply that
complies with Australian Drinking Water Guidelines.

“The
Dalton town water supply is sourced from two groundwater bores located within
the village,” Mr Bell said. “The bore water is of poor quality with elevated
salts, hardness and iron levels.”

Dalton’s
Chris Morgan questioned whether the village could be self sufficient with
tanks. Or if council could upgrade the water quality at residents’ homes
instead of at the source.

“I
wonder if it would be more economical to install water filters at Dalton homes
that are already on town water?” he asked.

Mr
Moloney said filters would be something council would look into but it would be
unlikely they would revert back to using tank water.

“Once
a town water system is put in place it’s difficult… to take it away,” he said.

The
options for Dalton will be looked into further once the tenders for Gunning are
awarded.

Mr
Moloney said once started, the Gunning construction is expected to take around
12 months.